2021

Literature review

GROUP 6
ANES HANDANAGIC|ERIK REINHOLDSSON|M HASSAN
DACHAN|SHENGYUN BILGIN SHERIF

JÖNKÖPING UNIVERISTY |
Table of content
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1. Organization of research............................................................................................................. 2
1.2. Research Question ...................................................................................................................... 3
1.3. Research purpose ....................................................................................................................... 3
2. Literature review............................................................................................................................. 4
2.1. Product recall in supply chain ................................................................................................. 4
2.2. Food recall in supply chain ...................................................................................................... 4
2.3. Food recall impact on organizations ....................................................................................... 5
2.4. Organizational learning ........................................................................................................... 6
3. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 7
3.1. Gaps in the reviewed literatures: ........................................................................................... 7
3.2. Future research opportunities: ............................................................................................... 8
References .............................................................................................................................................. 9

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1. Introduction
This literature review will be examining return management as a process of the supply chain,
it will investigate the managerial actions taken in product recalls and how food recalls occur.
According to Wowak et al., (2021) the important aspects in terms of product recalls within the
food industry lie in how to understand where the problem began in the supply chain.
Furthermore, by learning from previous events of food recalls, organizations have the
opportunity to improve the supply chain to avoid the risk of product recalls.
Charlebois, (2011) and Wowak et al., (2021) states that the managerial responsibility should
focus on communication between shareholders to strive for becoming transparent about the
problems and ramifications caused by a food recall. Otherwise, there might be fewer
opportunities to recover and learn from each event.

There is a significant difference about how to cope with food recalls in some organizations, the
cause behind that relates to the size of each firm and organization. Johnson-Hall (2017) argues
that larger firms suffer less in an event of a food recall compared to smaller firms. Because the
difference in resources between those two types of organizations has a great impact on how
well encountered that type of a crisis can be resolved.

1.1. Organization of research

A systematic approach was used to cover relevant literature in that field. To enable the option
to cover a more objective and transparent view of the topic researched a systematic approach
was conducted (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe & Jackson, 2015). In the following section the details
of how the analysis was conducted is presented.
To be able to find relevant literature we used the database Scopus. To start with we used the
search word “reverse logistics'' which generated many results. We still managed to find an
article we found interesting which was about food recall and the reason behind it and future
research. Consequently, we decided on the search word “food recall”. This resulted in a broad
assortment of literature with 12548 findings. Therefore, we decided to search for “product
recall” and “food recall” which resulted in 24 findings. We further read through the articles
and found that many of them were not connected to our chosen topic. In the articles that were
relevant, food recall is mentioned as product recall which resulted in a new search for only
“product recall”. This resulted in an assortment of 1342 findings. To narrow this further we
and to connect to our chosen topic we decided to limit the search to “product* rec**” and
“Food” and only including business articles which resulted in 76 findings. After reading the
abstract of the articles, we noticed that it was possible to limit the search further to only include
those connected to the supply chain. This resulted in 24 findings, and we found out after reading
them that 19 articles were useful to us and are also the base for our literature review.
Research may also include changing the concept of the keywords you are looking for. Since
this method leads to multiple iterations to adapt to the keyword search, it ensures a complex
and high-quality list of articles (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe & Jackson, 2015). In addition, this
process shifts the research theme from a more technically focused customization and
production point to a more business-focused approach to food recall, product recall, and supply
chain.

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 1.2. Research Question
The articles we used are mainly about food recalls and product recalls in the supply chain and
our literature review is aiming at how to avoid and learn from product recalls.
Therefore, our research question is:
“How does food recalls disturb the supply chain and how do organizations cope with it?”

1.3. Research purpose

This research aimed to find the role of product recalls in creating disturbances in the supply
chain and how firms can mitigate this effect as well as the lessons firms can learn from it to
avoid such future disturbances. In order to have better knowledge and explanation for this topic,
we chose food recalls as a specific case study. The extant literature related to this subject is
wide and vary but we were able to decide on three themes after reviewing a number of scientific
articles. The first theme is product recalls in supply chains. We were able to decide that many
articles discussed the reasons and consequences of product recalls on supply chains. In
addition, we can find that some other articles studied food recalls as a specific case, and we
considered this as the second theme. The third decided theme was organizational learning from
product recalls and the optimum organizational practices to avoid it.

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2. Literature review
2.1. Product recall in supply chain
By reviewing the selected business articles, it was obvious the mutual ideas and common
understandings of product recall principles in the supply chain and how to mitigate these recalls
between the different article’s authors. Considering the supply chain level, Wowak and Boone
(2015) precept product recalls as a major disruption of the supply chain. Additionally, they
defined the “product recalls” as the process of removing the polluted products from the supply
chain. Körber & Cotta (2021) consider product recalls as a result of poor-quality processes in
the whole supply chain. Moreover, firms that have offshored supply chains need to worry more
about the product recalls that might be created and result from the low quality of the products
(Dong et al., 2021; Körber & Cotta,2021).
Further aspect considered by researchers was looking at product recalls as a crisis on the firm's
level (Sumukadas, 2021). Researchers further reveal that recalls are affecting the firm’s brand
name in the market, reducing customers faith, affecting organization reputation and mitigate
market trust of the firm (Dong et al., 2021; Schniederjans & Khalajhedayati,2020; Körber &
Cotta,2021). Another stream of studies showed that most of the industries are plagued with
product recalls. Industries such as automotive, food, pharmaceuticals, furniture, electronic
industries have product recall on different levels and the interesting fact is that these product
recalls are growing year after year (Sumukadas, 2021; Zhang et al., 2020).
To reduce the impact of the product recalls on the supply chain firms have to implement a
quality management process. This process has a major role of managing product recalls. The
quality management process requires collaboration between all supply chain members to
maintain the product quality in order to reduce the product recalls (Zhang et al., 2020). In
addition, top management is considered as a focal part in reducing the product recalls since
they are responsible for managing, designing, observing the strategies and the performance.
Also, having a chief supply chain officer (CSCO) within the top management will play a
significant role in managing the product recalls. The interesting fact is that firms who have
hired CSCO in their top management team were reporting fewer product recalls (Körber &
Cotta, 2021).
Other interesting facts presented by authors were the strategic decisions such as having close
relationships with major suppliers and improving product quality as well as performing regular
auditing will decrease the number and the frequency of the product recalls in the firms and in
the supply chain as well. (Körber & Cotta,2021).
Finally geographical distance plays a major role in the supply chain responsive to mitigate the
disruptions and crises created by the product recalls. Responding quickly and effectively to
quality issues related to product recalls is considered as a major challenge for the firms in the
supply chain (Lawson et al., 2019).

2.2. Food recall in supply chain

Quality failure is an error that occurs in the supply chain which may lead to food contamination
(Gunawan, 2021). Another reason for disruptions in the supply chain is due to lacking
information sharing and traceability of products such as different kinds of food (Soon et al,
2021). This impacts the food safety which may result in food being contaminated and labelling
error may occur. (Dennis et al, 2020; Soon et al,2021). Labelling errors is a problem that occurs

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in the supply chain and depending on where it happens it can lead to a severe disruption in the
supply chain. The result of labelling errors is that manufacturers may receive the wrong product
or wrong information about a product, or the end user may be given information about a product
which can result in allergic reaction or severe reactions. (Soon et al, 2021; Liao et al, 2018).

Important aspects about the food recalls in the supply chain is to understand where the problem
lies and where it is in the supply chain. Also, the underlying reason behind how this product
became defective and what can be the countermeasure for the future (Wowak et al., 2021). Due
to what kind of circumstance the product recall occurs is important to acknowledge in order to
educate all shareholders and reduce it. Otherwise, the impact of the product recall becomes too
great, and the organization suffers. (Liao et al., 2018).

Another reason for product recall being important to reduce and not ignored is that product
recalls in general are more costly than the potential ramification that could affect the business
in terms of fees from the government (Kong et al., 2019). A reason why they may be ignored
is due to the fact that larger firms suffer less during a product recall due to increased resources
compared to smaller firms (Johnson-Hall, 2017). A solution to this problem can be when the
whole supply chain cooperates with government and agencies. Successful situations have
occurred when the whole supply chain works together with external parties such as government
or agencies (Dey et al., 2013).

2.3. Food recall impact on organizations

In the event of a food recall, organizations should focus on the coordination of the supply chain
where communication is crucial, which will help the organization to increase the recovery rate
of that event (Hall & Johnson-Hall, 2021). The reason for this is that the event can be
underestimated due to the lack of understanding between the actualization of cost and benefits
that occurred during a food recall (Hall & Johnson-Hall, 2021). This is in line with Wowak et
al., (2021) stating that communication between the actors in the supply chain is important to
understand the underlying reason for how that happened.
According to Charlebois, (2011) by sharing information about the crisis in early stages towards
all shareholders increases the effect of being able to recover faster as an organization from a
food recall. The author also argues that to prevent similar events the organization has to adapt
after the event and realize what has to be done to counter similar situations in the future.
Similarly, Liao et al., (2018) also highlights the importance for organizations to be able to
communicate in the early stages because otherwise, it becomes more difficult to control the
situation for organizations. As a result, if organizations share information with shareholders
and agencies it becomes more likely the event gets solved with less impact of the potential
ramifications that could occur during a food recall (Dey et al., 2013).
Although the process that evolves from this event gets taken on differently depending on the
size of the organizations and how many available resources the firms possess (Johnson-Hall,
2017). The author also states that smaller organizations have fewer resources which causes
increased response time to a food recall and continues to increase the negative impact for those
organizations. According to Hanson et al., (2011) stores that belong in a chain or franchise are
more likely to be able to respond to a food recall due to greater resources and the risk of
potential ramifications. Because larger organizations will suffer more from the negative

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impacts of a food recall. Consequently, smaller organizations might not act faster than the
larger organizations, but those stores suffer less from the impacts (Hanson et al., 2011).

2.4. Organizational learning

Traceability is main concern when product recall is occurring, and that is only possible with
accurate and timely information sharing between the supply chain members. According to
Zhang et al. (2020) product recall capability can be measured by tracking and traceability,
whereas this implementation requires a nation-wide information system. Authors also
mentioned that it is essential to identify and track the occurred quality problems, and quality
management teamwork empowers companies in order to sense these problems. This idea is
supported by Sumukadas (2021) and he stated that tracing products potentially more feasible
when target specified rather than public call and adds. Berman (2021) suggested that
identifying affected products with their barcodes, part numbers, manufacturing dates and
tracing through downstream channel members is the crucial part of the tracing process, and this
will help companies to recover crisis in an effective way. In addition to that, Sumukadas (2021)
mentions that Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) creates "a
supply chain community to enable the exchange of information" and information exchange
creates both shared knowledge, and intelligence. These practices are going to help the
companies to be prepared, they are must-to-know, and firms should practice these lessons
whenever they face with food recall.
In order to detect the contaminated products and take them away from shelves, an integrated
approach is crucial. Zhang et al., (2020) stated that the ability of quick and effective information
sharing enables companies to clarify the problem and take actions in a short span of time which
initially leads to shorter recall periods. In addition, a shorter discovery and recall interval has
positive impacts on consumers' further purchase from the same company (Berman 2021).
Being able to access the information enables companies to identify the problem, find the source
of contamination, detect what is causing and quickly take actions to prevent injuries and
damages (Zhang et al., 2020).
When given articles examined, it is possible to say that dealing with food recalls is extremely
difficult, traceability is low, and consequences related to them may lead to fatal injuries.
Wowak et al. (2021), Berman (2021) and Sumukadas (2021) all agree that food recall requires
communication and product extraction ability in order to prevent tangible and intangible
damages. Companies learn best from their own activities, because of the unique practices, but
examining other companies' processes can help to build a more responsive supply chain
operation. Lawson et al., (2019) stated that, inventory management of foods has distinctive
practices such as managing flow time and controlling temperature but not limited with them
and these operations require unique information collection and processing. Mentioned in their
article, recalls on food industry are critical because of the ability to harm masses and distance
between supply chain actors has serious importance on recall speed and efficiency in order to
reduce or eliminate the negative effects of contaminated foods. Hosseini-Motlagh et al., (2021)
argued that product recalls have significant negative returns to firms both in financial and
reputational and they can be encountered with penalties from government agencies. Moreover,
Berman (2021) strictly argued that firms should come up with separate recall plans based on
the risks involved with different products and says that high levels of risks require more efforts
from companies.

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3. Conclusion
To conclude with, the different reviewed articles belong to the recent decade in which
researchers had presented the negative impact of the product recalls on the supply chain and
how it can create disruption for the supply chain. In addition, researchers explained the product
recalls impact on firms’ reputation and operations. Research clarified the reasons behind the
product recalls in general as well as the solutions to reducing it within the supply chain.
Implementing quality management processes and hiring expert competences in the
management level can be considered as examples for these solutions.
It appeared that hiring CSCO’s and working with supply chain and quality management
teamworks has a positive impact on preventing recalls or dealing with them. Also having close
relationships with suppliers and improving product quality will decrease the number and
frequency of the product recalls. In addition to that, geographical distance has a significant
effect on supply chain responsiveness.

Food recalls as a part of product recalls has an important effect on the consumers life and health
that’s apart from its disturbance to the supply chain. Researchers presented the sources of the
food recalls. Food contamination and food safety are the main two causes for food recalls where
organizations must take measures to avoid them or at least to minimize them by using high
levels of information integration between the channel’s members. Early communication and
product traceability can reduce the ramifications of the product recalls crises especially for the
SME firms as they are suffering financially and reputationally more from product recalls.

Moreover, labelling errors are creating disturbances in supply chain operations. While the cost
of the products is small enough to endanger firms’ financials, recalling operations in supply
chain costs a lot than the products’ cots itself.
Food recall case is one of the organizational focuses. Collecting, processing and sharing
information and communication with upstream channel members, taking precautions and even
educating shareholders are equally important for this case. That’s why organizations need to
observe and maintain control over their supply chain operations.
Our research question tried to answer and clarify the question “How does food recalls disturb
the supply chain and how do organizations cope with it?”. Hence, our finding shows the high
impact of the product recalls on the supply chain and how the food recalls can disturb the
supply chain. Also, it shows the shortcoming of the current research papers of studying this
subject from different aspects, segments and perspectives.

3.1. Gaps in the reviewed literatures:

Despite the importance of the subject of product recalls and its superior impact on the stability
of supply chains, research on this subject is still in its infancy. The current research is
characterized by several shortcomings that can be explained by the following:
Firstly, most of the current research is quantitative. No articles were able to show the impact
of the product recalls on the supply chain or on firms in numbers.
Secondly, current research focused on specific business segments such as automotive,
pharmaceutical, food industries while there is no further, or enough studies related for some
other important industries such as children's toys.

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Thirdly, while these articles are mainly focusing on the operational and organizational aspects,
no research concentrates on human errors and human factors as a possible reason of food
recalls. There are many organizational learning topics, but regulations are missing which is
going to be used as a base in case of a food recall to control it and prevent damages.

3.2. Future research opportunities:

Referring to the gaps been decided on this literature reviews, we can assume many areas for
future research related to product recalls. Some of them are:
Firstly, future research must focus more on empirical studies and quantitative work to explain
the disturbances in the supply chains such as showing the effect of product recalls in numbers.
Thus, further qualitative research is required in this field to enrich the science business
literature library.
Secondly, expanded the future studies to cover some other main business segments which has
major impact on customer safety and create same negative effects on firms.
Lastly, the effects of recalls are affecting firms differently, depending on their sizes and
economical power. Future studies must explain how they are affected or effecting.
To sum up, it is strongly suggested for future studies to investigate what are the quality
problems in the food supply chains and which recalls can be prevented with some simple
solutions.

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